When Congress Bets Small, Should You Pay Attention?

Congressional stock trades typically attract scrutiny for obvious reasons—committee access, insider knowledge, and all that. But when a lawmaker starts buying shares in a company so small you could fit its entire market cap into a single suburban house, that's when things get really interesting.

Rep. Tim Moore (R-N.C.) has been making moves in 2025, including picking up shares of Genprex (GNPX), a gene therapy company with a market value under $5 million. We're talking microcap territory here, the kind of bet that's unusual for anyone with a congressional salary, let alone someone under constant public scrutiny.

Moore bought between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of Genprex shares on December 18. But that wasn't his first rodeo with this particular stock. He'd already made two previous purchases earlier in the year—$15,000 to $50,000 on October 29, and another $1,000 to $15,000 on November 7. All told, Moore has accumulated somewhere between $31,000 and $115,000 worth of shares in this tiny gene therapy player.

Why does this matter? Because Moore just earned bragging rights as the best-performing congressional stock picker of 2025, according to Quiver Quantitative. His portfolio gained 52% last year, crushing both his Capitol Hill colleagues and the S&P 500's 16.6% return. When the year's top trader starts accumulating shares in a company this small, investors tend to notice.

Of course, Moore also picked up shares of Cracker Barrel among his 2025 trades, so it's not all high-risk microcaps. But Genprex is the trade that stands out.

The Gene Therapy Company Behind the Trades

Genprex had a busy 2025, though you probably missed it unless you're deep in the biotech weeds. The company saw shares spike in October after announcing an update on REQORSA, its lead drug candidate for treating ALK-EML4 positive non-small cell lung cancer. October also brought a 1-for-50 reverse stock split, which tells you something about how the year was going.

The momentum continued into 2026. On January 7, Genprex shared positive preclinical data for GPX-002, a diabetes gene therapy candidate. CEO Ryan Confer highlighted that the company expanded its research from Type 1 diabetes into Type 2 diabetes last year. More significantly, Confer noted that Genprex has requested a meeting with the FDA to discuss Investigational New Drug studies, potentially paving the way for human clinical trials.

"This past year was instrumental for Genprex as we expanded our preclinical research beyond Type 1 diabetes and into Type 2 diabetes," Confer said. He called the potential FDA meeting a "pivotal step toward human clinical trials."

For a clinical-stage gene therapy company this small, every data release and regulatory update creates volatility. Investors should expect wild swings as the company progresses through development milestones.

The Risk Reality Check

Let's be clear about what we're looking at here. Genprex shares currently trade at $2.02, within a 52-week range of $1.71 to $55.00. The stock is down 94.8% over the past year. This isn't a blue-chip dividend payer—it's a high-risk, high-volatility biotech bet on experimental therapies that may or may not reach the market.

Moore's track record and the repeated purchases suggest conviction, but investors should understand their own risk tolerance before following any congressional trades, especially in microcap territory. The combination of Moore's successful 2025 performance and the company's tiny size makes this worth watching, but definitely not worth blindly copying.